KCGI Korea Fund's Assets Under Custody Increase by 79.1 Billion KRW in Three Months

KCGI Asset Management announced on the 15th that the assets under management of the KCGI Korea Fund series (excluding bond-type funds) reached 761.8 billion KRW as of the end of March.

This represents an increase of 79.1 billion KRW in the first quarter of this year. It is the largest quarterly increase since 121.2 billion KRW was added in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The KCGI Korea Fund series is a public offering fund investing in high-quality domestic stocks under the brand name "KCGI Korea." Starting with the Korea Fund [Equity] in 2013, it has launched nine funds including small-cap, equity hybrid, and bond hybrid types. Having been managed for over 10 years, it is one of the representative long-standing public offering fund series investing in the domestic market.

A KCGI Asset Management official explained, "As recognition of a market peak in the U.S. and undervaluation of the domestic market spread, funds are flowing into the KCGI Korea Fund, which has a clear investment strategy and has shown high returns and low volatility over a long period." He added, "Despite the contraction of the public equity fund market, the continued inflow of funds based on performance is meaningful."

The largest fund by net asset size, "KCGI Korea No.1 [Equity]," recorded a 12.4% return despite a challenging market environment where the composite stock price index fell 9.6% last year. Among 254 domestic equity funds with assets over 10 billion KRW, it ranked first in benchmark excess returns.

Since 2018, it has achieved annual returns exceeding market returns for seven consecutive years. As of the end of March this year, its one-year return exceeded the benchmark by 19.4 percentage points (P), reaching 11.0%. Despite the high returns, the fund showed low volatility, maintaining a standard deviation 2.0%P lower than the benchmark, the KOSPI 200.

A KCGI Asset Management official stated, "The KCGI Korea Fund aims for flexible investment without being confined to a specific strategy," and explained, "The secret to its high returns is employing a barbell portfolio strategy that simultaneously invests in growth stocks and value stocks at appropriate price levels."

The barbell strategy refers to an investment approach that mixes contrasting tactics to balance risk and maximize returns.